NASA astronaut accused of identity theft in what would be first criminal allegation from space

In this fileimage from video made available by NASA, U.S. astronaut Anne McClain speaks during an interview in Star City, Russia on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. (AP)

The situation is out of this world.

Anne McClain, a NASA astronaut and lieutenant colonel in the army, is facing accusations that she committed identity theft through the “improper access” of her estranged wife’s “private financial records,” The New York Times reported.

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Former Air Force intelligence officer Summer Worden didn’t understand how her estranged wife, McClain, still knew details of her spending.

Worden recently noticed, though, that a computer owned by NASA had accessed her bank account, using her own login information. McClain admitted to doing so in space, aboard the International Space Station.

There was no indication for Worden that any of the account’s funds had been moved or used.

Yet, Worden accused McClain of identity theft and improper access to the private financial records via a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission and her family’s complaint to NASA’s Office of Inspector General. The family accused McClain of a “highly calculated and manipulative campaign" to win custody of Worden’s son, who the couple was raising together.

Lawyer Rusty Hardin says McClain was doing what she always had in the relationship to ensure their finances were in order.

McClain, he said, was never told that she no longer had permission to access the account.

The astronaut, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, very nearly made history as part of NASA’s first all-female spacewalk. She is on NASA’s shortlist to be the first woman to land on the moon, according to Stars and Stripes this week.

The criminal allegation is likely the first to come from acts committed aboard the ISS, according to NASA’s information, and likely in space at all. Mark Sundahl, the director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, does not know of any prior extraterrestrial criminal allegations.